Sunday, February 03, 2008

With all the parents out there blogging about their parenting lives, I wonder sociologically/psychologically speaking, how that is going to affect/shape the perspectives of their kids? It's pretty fascinating to think about.

How many of us 35+ year olds can boast of having some kind of historical play by play access to our parent's thoughts regarding our developement and behavior? Most baby books abandon record-keeping at age 7, and even then, only record specific accomplishments; first tooth, first doctor visit, school picture, etc..

There are so many things a person experiences growing up and much of it is forgotten. It's nice to think that current and future generations can do a web search and re-experience an innocuous afternoon outing, a particular Halloween, an afternoon movie, shopping for school clothes etc...and as an added bonus, see themselves through their parent's perspective whether it be one of annoyance or amusement. I think being able to see the love behind each post will be reassuring as well.

I really believe on the whole, it will help a lot of kids as they are trying to figure themselves out, appreciate many valuable aspects to their personalities that are typically easy to forget or overlook. The blog-journal is a kind of proof of the child's value somehow that stands on its own regardless of the changing relationship between parent and child.

Being able to re-read old blogs, I imagine, would also be a great comfort as a child becomes a parent him or herself for the first time. The adult child can, to some degree, discard the archetypes and see the parent as a real person going through similar challenges, but with the added bonus of knowing that the story turned out fine.

I'm not a parent, nor do I have an desire to be, but I am envious of this generation's archives.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

There's a fund-raising dog parade downtown today with a Mardi Gras theme and due to various folks' disinterest or unavailability, I've been nominated to give out the award for "Finest Unofficial Nekkid Dog".

I'm probably the world's worst ad-libber, so I've enlisted my sister and her kids to help me out. She can be the voice if any cameras are involved and my niece and nephew can choose the winner (who's gonna argue with a cute kid, right?).

My friend in Delaware and her husband made the hilarious trophy; Alpo and Mighty Dog cans as the base and a upright dogbone and rubber ball on top to symbolize the sunsphere. There's also an engraved tag for the winner's collar and a frisbee.I don't think the owners of the nekkid dogs know that there is a trophy involved, so it should be low-key.

Update:

27 degrees for the start of the parade. Very chilly. My husband woke up early and came along with our second dog. We met up with my sister and her kids. The first annual parade was a huge success! About 500 dogs were registered to walk. The money goes to a local animal shelter, so we are super happy.

I feel like I botched the selection process for the Nekkid Dog award. I had all the Nekkid Dogs gather in the park and I stood there with my posse and deliberated. We didn't really reach an official concensus (there were soooo many super cute dogs), but I had two of my posse finger the gorgeous husky and I pounced on the decision.

His name was Eiger. Very impressive dog.

All in all, the parade was a hit. I look forward to seeing it grow(L) in the coming years.